Paes put up a brave fight in the third set which O'Brien won 9-7 on the tie-breaker. Paes now teams up with Mahesh Bhupathi to play in the men's doubles. The Indian pair have been seeded fourth.

Earlier, Steffi Graf won a match at the US Open for the first time since 1996 when she beat American Corina Morariu 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 today to advance to the second round as the US Open began Day 2.

After winning the year's final Grand Slam tournament in 1995 and '96, Graf missed last year's US Open because of knee surgery. Her victory today ran her consecutive match winning streak at the Open to 15.

``It's been two years. I don't look back on what happened before,'' Graf said. ``I look at now as a new start.''

In another early match, Mark Philippoussis ofAustralia defeated Norway's Christian Ruud 7-5, 6-4, 6-3.

The forehand that once ruled women's tennis made only occasional appearances against Morariu. But it was there every time Graf needed it.

It was in the second set, when she made 15 of her 28 unforced errors on the day, that the eighth-seeded German appeared in danger of matching her 1992 US Open result.

That was the only time she has failed to make it out of the opening round.Graf, making her debut in Arthur Ashe Stadium, grabbed a 3-0 lead in the opening set. She held her last two service games in the set at love and appeared headed for a straight-set victory.

Morariu had other ideas. The Floridian, hitting as hard and as deep as her opponent, broke Graf at love in the sixth game and pulled even at one set apiece.

Graf then tightened her game, setting up a second-round match against compatriot Marlene Weingartner.

Last night, Andre Agassi, hoping to cap his rise from the satellite tour with his second US Open title, found the Ashe Stadiumcourt to his liking as he overpowered Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.

``The court is definitely quicker, no question bout it,'' he said.Also advancing into the second round yesterday were the two No 1 seeds, Pete Sampras and Martina Hingis.

No 9 Karol Kucera and No 14 Goran Ivanisevic won in men's singles and No 6 Monica Seles, No 9 Irina Spirlea, No 11 Patty Schnyder, No 14 Dominique van Roost and No 16 Ai Sugiyama were winners among the women.

The only seed ousted on the first day was No 15 Alberto Berasategui of Spain, who fell to Thomas Muster of Austria 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-3.

How the seeds fared

Seedings in prefix
Men's Singles (1st round): 8-Andre Agassi (US) bt Sebastien Grosjean (France) 6-4 6-1 6-4; 9-Karol Kucera (Slovakia) bt Steve Campbell (US) 6-4 6-2 6-4; 12-Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) bt Cedric Pioline (France) 6-2 4-6 6-1 6-7 (3-7) 6-2
Women's singles (1st round): 1-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) bt Aleksandra Olsza (Poland) 6-2 6-0; 6-MonicaSeles (US) bt Florencia Labat (Agrentina) 7-6 (7-0) 6-2; 9-Irina Spirlea (Romania) bt Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) 7-6 (7-0) 6-4; 14-Dominique van Roost (Belgium) bt Julie Halard-Decugis (France) 6-2 6-2; 16-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) bt Ruxandra Dragomir (Romania) 6-1 6-2.

Other results

Men's singles: Wayne Black (Zim) bt Justin Gimelstob (US) 3-6 7-5 2-3 (retired); Bob Bryan (US) bt Marcos Ondruska (SA) 3-6 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-4 6-4; Wayne Arthurs (Aus) bt Carlos Costa (Spa) 6-3 5-7 6-4 6-4; Slava Dosedel (Cze) bt Filip Dewulf (Bel) 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4; David Nainkin (SA) bt Mark Merklein (US) 6-7 (3-7) 6-0 6-4 6-4; Bohdan Ulihrach (Cze) bt Sargis Sargsian (Arm) 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-4; Paul Goldstein (US) bt Andrew Ilie (Aus) 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 3-0 (retired); Taylor Dent (US) bt Alex Radulescu (Ger) 4-6 7-5 2-1 (retired); Jonathan Stark (US) bt Koon Yong-Il (Kor) 6-2 6-4 6-4; Dominik Hrbaty (Slo) bt Marc Rosset (Swi) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 7-5; Adrian Voinea (Rom) bt Andrea Gaudenzi (Ita) 6-4 3-6 6-2 2-0(retired); Guillaume Raoux (Fra) bt Nicolas Escude (Fra) 6-3 3-6 6-3 1-6 7-6 (8-6); Jan Siemerink (Net) bt Dinu Pescariu (Rom) 6-4 6-3 6-0; Todd Martin (US) bt Jeff Tarango 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 7-5; Sebastien Lareau (Canada) bt Ramon Delgado (Paraguay) 7-5 7-6 (7-3) 6-3).

Women's singles: Park Sung-Hee (Kor) bt Lenka Nemeckova (Cze) 1-6 6-3 6-4; Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Ludmila Richterova (Cze) 6-2 6-1; Gala Leon Garcia (Spa) bt Janet Lee (Tai) 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-4); Miho Saeki (Jpn) bt Jill Craybas (US) 6-1 2-6 6-3; Sandrine Testud (Fra) bt Shi-Ting Wang (Tai) 6-0 6-2; Serena Williams (US) bt Nicole Pratt (Aus) 6-3 3-6 6-4; Evgenia Koulikovskaya (Rus) bt Sandra Kleinova (Cze) 4-6 6-1 6-3; Annie Miller (US) bt Sandra Nacuk (Yug) 6-2 6-3; Iva Majoli (Cro) bt Anke Huber (Ger) 6-3 6-3; Nathalie Dechy (Fra) bt Barbara Paulus (Aut) 6-2 7-5; Pavlina Stoyanova (Bul) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2; Miriam Schnitzer (Ger) bt Elena Tatarkova (Ukr) 0-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-3; Aubrie Rippner (US) bt Amy Frazier(US) 6-3 6-1; Amelie Cocheteux (Fra) bt Sandra Dopfer (Aut) 6-3 6-3; Kveta Hrdlickova (Cze) bt Barbara Schwartz (Aut) 6-2 6-3; Mary Joe Fernandez (US) bt Tina Krizan (Slovenia) 6-4 7-6 (7-4); Alexandra Fusai (Fra) bt Alexandra Stevenson (US) 6-4 6-4; Mirjana Lucic (Cro) bt Kristie Boogert (Net) 6-3 6-2; Marlene Weingartner (Ger) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 6-4 1-6 6-2; Sylvia Plischke (Aut) bt Nana Miyagi (Jpn) 3-6 7-5 6-2; Naoko Sawamatsu (Jpn) bt Cristina Torrens Valero (Spa) 4-6 7-5 6-1Joannette Kruger (South Africa) bt Barbara Rittner (Germany) 6-1 6-3; Maria Alejandra Vento (Venezuela) bt Magui Serna (Spain) 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-4; Laura Golarsa (Italy) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) 6-3 7-6 (7-3); Radka Bobkova (Czech Rep) bt Jean Okada (US) 6-2 6-2; Lisa Raymond (US) bt Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo (Spain 6-3 6-3); Lori McNeil (US) bt Samantha Reeves (US) 4-6 6-4 6-1.